


Forest Green

by Masterless



Category: wtfock
Genre: Cute, Guys Being Guys, M/M, Makeup, Nail Polish, dudes being dudes, friends being good friends, fun stuff, vlogs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-25 02:22:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22008412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masterless/pseuds/Masterless
Summary: Robbe had never been curious about makeup or nail polish. He knew that it wasn’t really something he wanted, though after he came out he didn’t rule it out as something he could never want. He had ruled out guys and anything that might make him seem gay before, so makeup was in that group. Now that he was out, now that people knew he was gay, he didn’t keep it in the group of things he never wanted to try, like sashimi and taboganing, but it wasn’t in the group of things he wanted to try now, like holding Sander’s hand in public and going to Pride. His list of things that he didn’t not want to do but also didn’t desperately want to do grew very long after he came out. Some things he was fine with never doing, like shaving his legs, but some things, like painting his nails, was something he wasn’t opposed to doing.
Relationships: Robbe/Sander
Comments: 13
Kudos: 224





	1. Chapter 1

Robbe had never been curious about makeup or nail polish. He knew that it wasn’t really something he wanted, though after he came out he didn’t rule it out as something he could never want. He had ruled out guys and anything that might make him seem gay before, so makeup was in that group. Now that he was out, now that people knew he was gay, he didn’t keep it in the group of things he never wanted to try, like sashimi and taboganing, but it wasn’t in the group of things he wanted to try now, like holding Sander’s hand in public and going to Pride. His list of things that he didn’t not want to do but also didn’t desperately want to do grew very long after he came out. Some things he was fine with never doing, like shaving his legs, but some things, like painting his nails, was something he wasn’t opposed to doing. 

When he saw that Sander had painted his nails a deep navy blue after an evening when they’d hung out with Zoë, he was curious.

“When did you do that?” Robbe asked.

“I asked Zoë to do it yesterday,” Sander said, wiggling his fingers to show off his nails. “You like?”

“Yeah.” Robbe took Sander’s hand in his own and laced their fingers together. “It looks nice.”

Sander was pleased with the compliment. “You want to do yours? I think… a nice maroon would look good on you.”

Robbe snorted. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Why not?”

And Robbe was stuck on that question for a week before he asked Jana to paint his nails. Why not? Because he was still, in some small part of his mind, scared of how his friends would react. But he knew they wouldn’t really care. Why not?

“Hey, Jana,” Robbe called, stopping her on her way out of the school to go to lunch with the girls.

“Hey, Robbe.” She smiled and hugged him gently. “What’s up?”

“Could you…” He laughed nervously. “Would you be willing to paint my nails?”

“Paint your nails?” Jana repeated. “Uh, yeah! Sure. Do you want to come over to mine after school?”

“Yeah.” Robbe smiled, a little tight but grateful. “Thanks.” Just before she started to walk away again, he pulled on her sleeve slightly. “And, uh. Please don’t tell anyone.”

She stared at him for a moment before smiling softly. “Of course. Our little secret.”

*

It was safe to say that Robbe was nervous when he got to Jana’s. It had been a while since he’d gone over, and of course her mother had to open the door when he knocked.

“Robbe!” she greeted with a wide, but very fake, smile. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been good.” He hugged her back when she pulled him in. 

“How’s your mother?”

“She’s doing a lot better.” Robbe toed of his shoes off and stood as Jana’s mother asked him more about his life that both of them knew she didn’t care about.

“How’s your father? Are you parents still splitting up?”

“Mama!” Jana was in the middle of the stairs, looking at her mother incredulously. “Really?”

“What?” she asked back. “I’m just making conversation!”

“By asking if his parents are still getting divorced?” Jana scoffed. “Great topic, mama.” She held out her hand to Robbe. “Come on, let’s go up to my room.”

“Keep the door open!” Jana’s mother called after them.

Jana scoffed again before flopping down on to her bed. She shook her head before smiling excitedly at Robbe, gesturing for him to lay next to her.

“So,” she said. “What colour do you want?”

Robbe was quiet. “I don’t know. Just… not pink.”

“Okay, not pink.” She turned to look at him, closer than she’d ever really looked at him before and, to be honest, it made Robbe feel slightly uncomfortable. “I think an earthy colour would look good on you. A warm colour.”

“Like what?”

She studied him some more. “Burgundy. Or…. amber. I think amber would look nice on you.”

“Amber?”

Jana stood and pulled out her collection of nail polishes, digging out the right one and showing it to him.

“Brown.” He looked from the bottle in his hand to her and back again. “It’s brown.”

“It’s amber,” she huffed. “It’s more orangey.”

“It’s brown, Jana.” He handed it’s back. “I don’t want brown nails, Moyo will shit on me even more than he already will.”

Jana sighed, nodding in concession. “Okay, maybe you have a point.” She scrunched up her mouth in concentration. “What about an olive green?”

She held it out to him.

“Why do you even have this much nail polish?” Robbe asked.

“There was a period of time when you and Jens were my only friends, Robbe, and I didn’t really have much else to do.”

He nodded. “I don’t really like this colour. But I like the idea of green.”

She gave him another one. “What about this?”

“What is it?”

“Forest green.”

He smiled slightly. “Yeah, I like this one.”

Jana clapped her hands. “Okay! Let’s go.”

She placed the box of polish back on the floor and slide it under her bed again before pulling a hand towel out. She laid it on the bed and told him to put his hands on it. She carefully took each of his hands and applied a thin coat of clear polish.

“What’s this?” Robbe asked.

“Bottom coat.” She glanced up at him. “It’s to keep the polish from damaging your nails and so that it lasts longer.”

When the base coat was dry to the touch, she picked up the forest green polish and tapped it against her palm roughly for a few seconds. She then took each hand delicately again and applied a layer of polish to each nail. Robbe felt a momentary panic at how light it was, but Jana went over it with another layer of paint and it subsided some. She moved to his other hand and repeated her process.

“Okay, now don’t do anything with your hands for the next thirty minutes,” she said.

And everything just got itchy. His head, his nose, his arms, his legs. Every single part of his body began to itch like it had never itched before.

“Yeah, it’s common.” Jana shrugged. “You can’t move, so you feel like everything is itchy. I don’t know why.”

When the half hour was up, Jana applied another layer of clear paint, but this was different to the bottom on.

“Top coat,” Jana said when he asked. “To make sure it doesn’t crack or chip too quickly.”

Robbe hummed. “Cool.”

“This means nothing to you, doesn’t it?” Jana asked with a laugh.

He nodded.

They lapsed into a comfortable silence as they waited for his nails to dry. Just like he always did when he was alone with Jana, Robbe felt guilt creeping into his stomach.

“Hey, Jana?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry.”

She was quiet for a moment. “I know, Robbe.”

*

“Oh my god,” Sander said, looking at Robbe’s hands. He took one in both of his own, smiling gently down at it. “You did it.”

“Yeah.” Robbe blushed. “You like it?”

“Oh, baby.” Sander lifted Robbe’s hand to his lips and he kissed his knuckles. “I love it.”

Robbe smiled, and it really wasn’t as much of an event as he expected. Not with Sander, at least. When he showed up at school the next day, his stomach in knots over his fucking nails, Robbe was scared. He was genuinely worried that maybe this was too far, too gay for the guys. They hadn’t done anything since he’d come out to show that they thought something was too much or too gay for them, but maybe this was it.

“Bro!” Aaron nearly screamed when Robbe reached for his bag at the end of their break. “Your nails are black!”

“Uh…” Robbe looked down at his hands. “Green, actually.”

Jens grabbed his hand and held it up to his face, his eyebrows scrunched into a tight frown as he stared at his friends nails. “Yep. Green.”

Moyo started laughing. “Bro, are you colour blind?”

“Your nails are green!” Aaron amended. “You need to go to the nurse!”

“The nurse?” Moyo asked, laughing as Jens cackled. “It’s just paint!”

Aaron looked down at Robbe’s hands again, and took hold of them in his own. “How did you get them green?”

“Nail polish?” Robbe laughed along with his friends. The knot in his stomach was slowly releasing. “Dude, your girlfriend has painted nails all the time.”

“Yeah, but that’s chick stuff,” Aaron said dismissively.

And it was back. His stomach clenched like a fist.

“Bro,” Moyo said. “It’s not chick stuff.”

Jens shook his head. “It’s everyone stuff.” He looked down at Robbe’s hands and brought one closer to his face again. “This is really well done, though. Sander?”

Robbe smiled, the tightness ebbing once more. “No, Jana.”

Jens looked impressed. “Maybe I should ask her to do mine.”

Moyo frowned. “You? She won’t let you back inside her house, like, ever dude.”

Robbe snorted. “I think that she’d be willing to do it at school, though.”

“Do you think she’ll do mine?” Aaron said.

Robbe took both his hands from his friends and shrugged. “Maybe?”

“We should get matching nails!” Aaron said, smiling. “Maybe we could make a vlog out of it!”

“The four of us going to a salon,” Jens added.

“No,” Moyo said. “I don’t want to get my nails done, sorry.”

“Come on, Moyo,” Jens said. “They don’t have to match. And you could get the clear stuff.”

Moyo sighed, shaking his head. “The things I do for my friends. Fine! We’ll all go get our nails done.”

“I’ve already got my nails done!” Robbe protested. “This took an hour!”

“An hour?” Aaron repeated. “An hour??”

“Yeah, you’ve got to let everything dry, man,” Jens said.

“It’s just nail polish.” Aaron shook his head.

“Nope.” Robbe smiled. “It’s base coat, then polish, then top coat.” 

They all looked at him.

“Are you becoming a make up gay?” Moyo asked.

Robbe stared at him, one eyebrow raised, unimpressed. “No, I just like to listen when other people tell me things. Jana told me last night.”

Jens nodded. “And even if he was, that’s chill.”

“We should all do makeovers!” Aaron said. “Like you guys’s video with Jens, but with people who actually know how to do makeup!”

They all turned to stare at Aaron now.

“No,” Robbe said. “Absolutely not.”

They ended up doing both videos anyway.


	2. Makeup Vlog

Robbe didn’t really know what to think when he found himself in front of the camera once again. He hadn’t been in a vlog in a short while, and he didn’t really know how to feel about it. He was happy to be part of the group again, to be included, but at the same time, he didn’t really enjoy some of the jokes that came along with it. So, he’d set up some rules for him being back on camera.

“One,” he said, looking at his friends as they all sat around the table in Jens’ kitchen. “No more gay jokes at my expense. No more gay jokes, period.”

Jens and Aaron nodded.

“But what if they’re funny?” Moyo asked.

Robbe raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, no gay jokes,” Moyo said.

“Two,” Robbe continued. “Don’t mention Sander until he’s ready to be on film, okay? And if he never wants to be part of this, don’t mention him at all.”

Another round of nods.

“And three,” Robbe finished. “Let me be the one to say that I’m gay. Don’t do it for me.”

After all that was done, they went to the salon to get their nails done. Robbe, because he’d already gotten his painted by Jana, sat at the side and filmed them all, starting the video pointed directly at his face.

“Hello, guys!” he said, smiling widely. “Yes, I’m back.” He flipped the camera to look at the boys. “And today, the brrroers are getting our nails did.” He showed off his nails. “I already got mine done four days ago, so this time it’s just the other three. We don’t have any footage of that because I didn’t think this would become a video, but we’ll all be doing something later today to make up for that.” He pointed the camera pack at his face. “Hope you enjoy!”

The footage of Jens, Moyo, and Aaron getting their nails done was sped up, broken with clips of them saying something, but it went by pretty fast. When they were done, they all showed off their nails, Moyo laughing at Aaron’s overly dramatic pose.

“Let’s have a look!” Robbe said, focusing on their hands splayed out on the table top. 

Aaron’s nails were a cobalt blue with a slight shimmer. “Amber said that it would look nice with my eyes.”

Robbe frowned. “What?”

“In contrast to my eyes.” He smiled at the camera. “I like this.”

Moyo snorted. “Bro, you’re so…”

Jens raised an impressive eyebrow.

“You’re so girly,” Moyo finished. “What? I didn’t say anything.”

“No, but saying that he’s being ‘girly’,” Jens said, “is saying that there is something inherently wrong with being or likely girly things, when there isn’t. It’s sexism.”

“Jesus Christ, I’m just not going to talk ever again,” Moyo huffed.

“Oh, what a relief,” Robbe snarked.

Jens shoved his hands closer to the camera, showing off the shiny dark grey colour of his nails. “In other news, I got smoke nails.”

Robbe laughed. “Moyo?”

He held his hands in front of the camera. “I got clear stuff that’s supposed to help with nail health.”

“Very conscientious,” Jens said. “Good for you. But I think that the purple would have looked nice on you.”

“Please, I’m not getting colour on my nails,” Moyo said. “My brother would beat the shit out of me.”

“For having coloured nails?” Aaron asked.

Moyo nodded. “Yeah, he’s… well, you guys know how I was. He’s ten times worse.” He shrugged. “Fag bash kind of bad.”

“Bro,” Jens warned.

“It’s what it’s called,” Robbe said quietly. “It’s not fun.”

The others stared at him.

“Bro,” Moyo said, putting his hand on Robbe’s shoulder. “Have you… Did you get…”

“Guys,” Aaron said, nodding down to the camera. “Maybe we should turn that off if we’re having this conversation.”

Robbe clicked it off. “It was a while ago. Before I came out, before me and Sander were steady. I’m okay.”

“Did you press charges?” Jens asked.

Snorting, Robbe shook his head. “How would I? I don’t know who they were, I don’t even know if it would be taken seriously. And Sander didn’t want to go to the cops, so.”

“Sander told you not to go to the police? After you’d been beaten up?” Jens frowned. “That’s not cool.”

“It’s fine,” Robbe said. “What would it have changed? It happened, let’s just forget it.”

“No, Robbe,” Aaron said. “Bro, it’s not whatever. You got attacked.”

“Let’s just go to Zoë’s, okay?” Robbe asked. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

Moyo sighed, shaking Robbe a little with the hand still on his shoulder. “If it ever happens again, you tell us, okay?”

Taken aback, Robbe nodded and didn’t say anything.

“We’ll edit out the part of the conversation we got on camera, too,” Jens said. “Just so you can tell people you’re way, when you’re ready.”

Robbe smiled. “Thanks.”

They made their way over to Zoë’s. Milan told Robbe to keep his key so that he could get back in if he ever needed a safe place to stay. They were expected, however, so it wasn’t a surprise when Robbe let all four of them in.

“Robbe!” Zoë called. “In the living room!”

They walked over, Moyo slightly slower than the rest of them, and soon found themselves surrounded by their friends, each girl wielding some sort of makeup equipment. Yasmina was the only one not holding something, but she soon held out her hand for the camera.

“I’ll be doing this for you today, seeing as you’re all going to need to be on camera,” she said with a smile. “Even you, Moyo.”

He nodded, keeping himself quiet.

Zoë sat next to Robbe, Amber next to Aaron, and Luca next to Moyo, leaving Jana to sit next to Jens. They both looked slightly uncomfortable, but, Robbe thought, they’d just have to get over themselves. Yasmina turned the camera back on and nodded for someone to do an intro.

“Hey everyone!” Aaron said, smiling pleasantly at the camera. “So, this part of our vlog is going to be our friends, and my girlfriend,” he grinned sappily at Amber, who leaned in and kissed his cheek, “giving us makeovers! No one asked for this, and it was actually our idea because what goes better with nails? Makeovers.”

Robbe snorted.

“You have something to say?” Moyo asked, grinning. “You’re the reason all of this started.”

With a shrug, Robbe turned back to smile at Zoë, who grinned back at him.

“Okay, so, let’s begin!” Jens said, clapping his hands together and turned to face Jana once more.

Robbe soon forgot that the camera was even there, concentrating very hard on not moving. He didn’t want to mess anything up, not when Zoë had been so kind to help them. Zoë told him everything she was doing, from foundation to concealer to eyeshadow, but it didn’t really mean much to him. When she showed him the colour of the eyeshadow, a shimmering gold colour, he went slightly pale.

“It’s not heavy,” Zoë laughed. “It’ll just be a little highlight, you’ll hardly see it. I promise.”

Robbe nodded, just letting her do whatever she thought was best.

The last thing Zoë did was brush a very pale brown lip gloss over his lips. She frowned and shook her head, pulling out a makeup remover and rubbing it gently on his mouth. She sat back and stared at him intently, and out of the corner of his eye, Robbe saw Yasmina coming closer to look at him, too. It was the longest he’d ever had either of them staring at him, aside from the time that Zoë found him in the bathroom after he and Sander got jumped. 

Yasmina picked up one of Zoë’s lipsticks and handed it to her. “This one.”

Zoë looked at it with wide eyes. “It’s so dark, though.”

“It’ll work.”

So Zoë shrugged and uncapped the lipstick, gliding it gently across his lower lip before artfully coating his upper one.

“Rub your lips together,” she instructed. When he did, she nodded. “Now, put your finger in your mouth, close your lips around it, and pull it out quickly.” When he just stared at her, she demonstrated. “It’ll get any excess lipstick off and make sure you don’t get it on your teeth.”

So, feeling slightly foolish, Robbe did as he was told. His eyes widened almost comically when he saw the dark purple lipstick on his finger.

“Zoë,” he said. “This is never going to come off.”

“It will,” she laughed. “Don’t worry.”

She showed him the final look in a round mirror about the size of his face. At first, all he could see was the dark plum colour of his lips, but then he noticed the little details. His eyelids did shimmer, and he could tell it was a little gold, especially the inner corners of his eyes, but it was subtle. It got darker towards the outer corner of his eyes, going from the light gold to a warm tan colour. It was a neutral look, Zoë told him, and it made his eyes look warm. He agreed with her on that. And, somehow, it didn’t look stupid with the dark lipstick. It looked like a complete piece. His cheekbones stood out but it just looked natural. His eyelashes were longer and darker, his upper eyelid traced with a dark line of eyeliner. He smiled slightly at himself. Makeup wasn’t on his list of things he desperately wanted to try, but he was glad he did. He thought, privately and quietly, in the very back of his mind, that he might even do this again. 

He looked around at his friends, smiling slightly. Yasmina was still slowly rotating around them all, looking very focused on her job as camera woman. Jens and Jana were smiling shyly at each other as she gently brushed red lipstick onto his lips. He looked very sophisticated, with a slight smoky eye thing going on. It was very similar to the look that Robbe and Moyo had put on him in one of their previous vlogs, but it was obviously better done. Aaron had a startlingly bright shade of blue on his eyelids, but it actually didn’t look bad. The rest of his makeup was sort of muted so that it didn’t clash with his eyeshadow, and it really did make his eyes pop. Amber knew what she was doing. Moyo had a more neutral look, thought Luca had somehow convinced him to let her use a very bright, matt orange lipstick on him. It looked nice and went with ihs skin tone almost perfectly.

“Aw, I missed the party!”

Milan was stood at the door, his jacket still on, though he had taken off his boots. 

“Well,” Aaron said. “There’s always next time.”

“No there isn’t,” Moyo said, his eyes going wide, causing the others to laugh. “I’m not doing this again.”

Milan pouted. “Not even for me, Moyo?”

Robbe snorted. “Leave him alone, Milan.”

When Milan looked over at Robbe, he gasped. “Oh my god!” He walked behind them all to sit behind Robbe. “You look so pretty!”

Blushing, Robbe ducked his head. “Thanks.”

“By the way, guys,” Aaron said, looking at the camera once more, and reminding the rest of them that this was still a vlog. “This is Milan, one of Robbe’s close friends. He’s very cool.”

Milan preened under the compliment. “Why thank you.”

Robbe noticed Milan texting someone, but didn’t think much of it until the doorbell rang a half hour later.

“I’ll get it!” Milan said, smiling down at Robbe.

Amber was just putting the finishing touches on Aaron’s make up, being the very last ones to finish. Amber seemed to have a lot of lipstick on her own lips, and on her neck, and Robbe realised that they had taken so long because they’d stopped to make out for a few minutes between every piece of makeup. He hadn’t seen it because he was so fixed on not messing anything up for Zoë. He looked up at the door when Milan came back, smiling widely. Standing behind him, looking windswept and angelic, was Sander. He was staring at Robbe, his expression unreadable. Robbe blushed.

Sander made his way over slowly, sitting next to Robbe and looking at him, still with that unknowable look on his face. His fingers were gentle when they came up to trace his jaw line.

“You’re beautiful,” Sander whispered.

Robbe had to look away from the unfiltered adoration in Sander’s eyes.

“Sander,” Aaron whispered loudly. “We are filming right now.”

Sander nodded, but didn’t reply in any other way. Robbe looked back up when he felt Sander shift closer and was suddenly being kissed. It was soft and unrushed, and it made Robbe feel like he was going to melt.

“Well,” Jens said. “Does this mean he’s okay with being your boyfriend on camera?”

Robbe flipped him off over Sander’s shoulder, leaning into the kiss and wrapping his arms around Sander’s neck.

“I think that the video is over, or at least it is for now,” Jana chuckled.

“I think so, too,” Sander said, breaking off the kiss.

So they all filtered out of the room, leaving the two boys alone. Robbe scooted back until he was against the sofa, and Sander followed. They kissed again, just as soft and kind, but there was more weight to it.

“You’re so beautiful,” Sander whispered again. 

Robbe snorted. “You look like you just mouth fucked a plum.”

And he did. Robbe’s lipstick was smeared around Sander’s mouth, the dark colour a startling contrast to his pale hair. It didn’t really go with his skin colour, but he looked debauched and like he was about to come undone. When Sander smiled, though, Robbe felt a spike of warmth flood his stomach. 

“But thank you,” Robbe whispered. 

“I love you.”

Robbe smiled. “I love you, too.”

And if they left the room half an hour later with messy hair and rumpled clothes, no one said anything. They didn’t say anything when Zoë fixed Robbe’s lipstick and handed Sander a makeup wipe. They didn’t comment on how Robbe didn’t take his makeup off when they went to a restaurant for dinner, all eleven of them. And Jens didn’t say anything when he saw dark lipstick stains on Sander’s stomach when Sander reached across the table to grab his phone back from Robbe, who stole it from him to stop him from taking photographs. There was nothing to say.


End file.
